In order to capture the three leopards which strayed in fencing area built for African Cheetah in Kuno National Park, two elephants have been brought from Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR).

These elephants have travelled around 700 km to capture the leopards who entered the fencing area of Kuno from neighbouring Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. Forest team has started search of the leopards with help of elephants on Saturday.

In addition to this, eight different ponds have been constructed in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary for arranging drinking water for Cheetah. In its last visit to Kuno, an expert team from Africa directed to construct the ponds in 12 km of area. The team also asked to fence the area with green net in both outer and inner areas. District Forest Officer Prakash Verma said, “We have received two elephants from STR and they are deployed to rescue the leopards. We are expecting African Cheetah from Namibia in September.”

He further informed that 8 Cheetahs are being introduced on experiment based and if all goes well, more Cheetahs will be brought to India. Group of eight cheetahs have been vaccinated in Namibia. Forest officials said that average weight of each cheetah will be 30 kg to 50 kg. It would take around 14 hours to translocate the cat in India. They will be quarantined in Kuno for 30 days and then shifted to enclosure.

DFO Prakash Verma said that special enclosure has been prepared in 24 km of area from Palpur to Jakhod range. Patrolling team has been also assigned to keep an eye on cat especially in outer parts.

Translocation of African spotted cat from Namibia to India is being delayed due to presence of leopards in the area where Cheetahs are supposed to be released. Officials had earlier planned to introduce the cat in Kuno Palpur National Park before August 15. The plan is postponed by the forest officials for a month after witnessing presence of leopards. Sources said that African Cheetah will be brought to MP’s Kuno Palpur in second week of September. At present, field staff in Kuno are assigned to capture the leopards and release them to some other areas. These leopards strayed out in Kuno from Ranthambore and they are treacherous for Cheetah. Around 4,000 sqkm of outer area has wild dogs and leopards which can prey the Cheetahs. Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was earlier prepared for welcoming Asiatic Lion. When lion could not be released from Gujarat state, authorities come up with Cheetah project. Kuno Sanctuary is spread over 748 sqkm of area where it is proposed to introduce 50 Cheetahs in next ten years. Centre had signed a MoU of Cheetah translocation with Namibia in July at New Delhi.